Mausoleo di Teodorico is a stone tomb built for the king of Ostrgoths Theoderic. Its unique gothic decorations and the fact it is one of rare monuments from this period of history put it on the UNESCO World Heritage list and on all tourist maps of Ravenna.
The Mausoleum of Theoderic or in Italian Mausoleo di Teodorico is a monument in Ravenna which was built and designed as a tomb for King Theoderic of the Ostrogoths’ Kingdom in 520AD. This mausoleum was completely built of Istria stone, while the roof of the monument is made of a single stone piece that weighs around 300 tons. Together with other 7 sites in Ravenna, the Mausoleum of Theoderic also found its place on the UNESCO World Heritage list, because of unique gothic decorations not used by Romans and the fact that this is the only surviving tomb of a king from this period.
Theoderic was the Ostrogoths’ King who managed to establish the Ostrogothic kingdom, which during his reign reached its zenith and started to weaken afterwards. Ostrogoths were eastern Goths that during the invasion of the Huns fell under their dominion. After the fall of the kingdom of the Huns, Ostrogoths settled in Roman province of Pannonia.
Even though the Western Roman Empire was weak for a long period, officially its end was marked by the victory of Odoacer (most probably an officer in the Western Roman Empire of “barbarian origins”) over Romulus Augustus, the last Western Roman Emperor. Theoderic managed to defeat Odoacer and established a vast Ostrogoths Kingdom which borders extended from modern France to the Balkan Peninsula and Serbia. The capital of the newly formed kingdom was Ravenna.
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